In October a new cafe purporting to have fair trade, organic, local, veg friendly cuisine in the heart of South Austin opened up and I can’t believe that I didn’t try it until the last day of July! It just shows how many wonderful options that we have now for vegan eating overall that I hadn’t yet made it too a place I could walk to. Somnio’s cafe is a really adorable place with a very nice backyard for hanging out and a little herb garden right by the door.
The cafe is in an old bungalow on south first and had a really cozy modern interior with fresh flowers and lots of sunlight. It almost feels like going over to your friends house for dinner since you walk in through the backyard and sit wherever you like. Our server was super friendly and attentive and immediately brought me a lavender earl gray iced tea which I really enjoyed.
They have quite a few vegetarian options on the menu that sounded so good and easily veganizable like panko crusted eggplant over buckwheat noodles, a crusted and fried avocado stuffed with mushrooms, and shitake and cabbage filled dumplings. My guess is they use egg in their batter and hopefully they will see that there are some brilliant other ways to make something crusty! They do have several vegan options to choose from with a rotating seasonally based menu. The Bud salad sounded really good: roasted marinated golden beets with chickpeas, fresh organic greens, cilantro, pecans, and a chipotle vinegratte but I really wanted to try Railey’s Tacos (all their tacos are named after their dogs!) which is simply described as seasonal vegetables sauteed in salsa with avocado and your choice of tortialla. My friend opted for the Watermelon Gazpacho which I tried and found perfect for a hot Texas day. 
The tacos were a lot like the tacos I make at home, probably because we both get our vegetables from local farms. They were very lightly spiced. The corn tortillas were fresh and avocado was perfectly ripe. But the real winner was the salsa, oh you sweet beautiful summer tomatoes I love you more than anything in this world.
I think the best part of the whole meal was dessert which is something I almost never say since I never get to order it! Both options are vegan, a chocolate ice or the vegan brownie. I was hesitant to get the baked good because I have never had a good vegan brownie in Austin that I didn’t make myself but this was just perfect. It even had a spicy kick which was totally unexpected and very much appreciated.
So I will be a stranger no more to Somnio’s cafe, I can’t wait to try their brunch where you can get a make your own breakfast bowl amongst other things. Oh man, maybe I will go tomorrow…